By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw
LIMA (Reuters) -Joe Biden met Chinese language President Xi Jinping for the final time as U.S. president on Saturday, with the leaders’ objective of reducing tensions earlier than Donald Trump’s inauguration challenged by recent conflicts over cyber crime, commerce, Taiwan and Russia.
Biden and Xi huddled on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation discussion board in Lima, Peru as they started their first talks in seven months, in response to Chinese language state media.
Washington is incensed by a current China-linked hack of the phone communications of U.S. authorities and presidential marketing campaign officers, and it’s anxious about rising stress by Beijing on Taiwan and Chinese language help for Russia.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te is planning to cease within the U.S. state of Hawaii and perhaps Guam on a delicate go to that’s certain to anger Beijing within the coming weeks, Reuters reported on Friday. In the meantime, Biden met Taiwan’s consultant the summit, former economic system minister Lin Hsin-i, who on Friday invited him to go to Taiwan within the close to future.
China views democratically ruled Taiwan as its personal territory. The U.S. is Taiwan’s most essential worldwide backer and arms provider, regardless of the dearth of formal diplomatic recognition.
On the similar time, Beijing’s economic system is taking a stiff hit from Biden’s steps on commerce, together with a plan to limit U.S. funding in Chinese language synthetic intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors and export restrictions on high-end pc chips. All of these subjects are anticipated to determine into the talks, U.S. officers mentioned.
China routinely denies U.S. hacking allegations, regards Taiwan as inner matter and has protested American statements on Sino-Russian commerce. A spokesperson for the Chinese language Embassy in Washington declined to remark.
BLANKET TARIFFS
Trump has vowed to undertake blanket 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese language items as a part of a bundle of “America First” commerce measures. Beijing opposes these steps. The Republican president-elect additionally plans to rent a number of hawkish voices on China in senior roles, together with U.S. Senator Marco Rubio as secretary of state and Consultant Mike Waltz as nationwide safety adviser.
On Wednesday, Biden nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan described the transition as “a time when competitors and adversaries can see possibly opportunity.” Biden will stress with Xi the “need to maintain stability, clarity, predictability through this transition between the United States and China.”
Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based worldwide relations scholar, mentioned China desires the assembly to ease tensions throughout the transition interval. “China definitely does not want relations with the United States to be thrown into turmoil before Trump formally takes office,” mentioned Shen.
Pacific Rim leaders gathered on the APEC summit are assessing the implications of Trump’s return to energy as U.S. president on Jan. 20. The South American summit presents new indicators of the challenges to the US’ energy in its personal yard, the place China is on a allure offensive.
Xi, who arrived in Lima on Thursday, plans a week-long diplomatic blitz in Latin America that features a refurbished free-trade settlement with Peru, inaugurating the large Chancay deep-water port there and being welcomed in Brazil’s capital subsequent week for a state go to. China additionally introduced plans to host the APEC summit in 2026.
China is looking for Latin America’s metallic ores, soybeans, and different commodities, however U.S. officers fear they could even be in search of new U.S.-adjacent navy and intelligence outposts. Chinese language state-backed media has known as these accusations a smear.
A U.S. official mentioned Washington’s dedication to the area was sturdy and that Chinese language infrastructure funding abroad has declined lately as a consequence of home challenges and issues with the tasks.
However Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a Washington suppose tank, mentioned Xi would meet with a superb reception within the area.
“Biden’s trip will be overshadowed very clearly by all of the things that Xi Jinping will be up to when he visits APEC,” he mentioned. “When Xi meets with Biden part of his audience is not – it’s not solely the White House or the U.S. government. It’s about American CEOs and continued U.S. investment or trying to renew U.S. investment in China and get rid of the perception that there’s a hostile business environment in China.”
